Educated Guesses
Educated Guesses
A LESSON IN DRAWING YOUR OWN INFORMED CONCLUSIONS ABOUT NATURE
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever looked at an animal and wondered why it looks or behaves the way it does?
Scientists ask those kinds of questions all the time—but they don’t always have complete answers. In many cases, they gather what is already known, study patterns, and form educated guesses: well-informed conclusions based on careful observation, research, and reasoning.
In nature, species have evolved to survive in many different environments. Each species fills a particular role, or niche, that helps both the species and the ecosystem thrive. We can’t always know exactly why a species evolved in a certain way, but we can study its environment, its behavior, and its physical traits to draw informed conclusions.
In this lesson, you’ll use the art of making educated guesses to explore primate diversity. Nonhuman primates vary greatly in size, shape, and behavior, and their bodies are specially adapted to help them succeed in their habitats. By observing these adaptations and researching the environments in which primates live, you’ll explore how and why these traits are useful.
This lesson is not about getting the “right” answer.
Instead, it focuses on:
- observing carefully
- asking good questions
- developing your own hypotheses
- researching what is already known
- and explaining how the evidence supports your conclusions
Your conclusions should be based on facts—not opinions—and you’ll be asked to justify your thinking using the information you uncover.
Along the way, you’ll learn about different primate species and their habitats, why their physical traits matter, and why protecting these species also helps protect the ecosystems they depend on. Because non-content: nonhuman primates are indicator species, their well-being reflects the health of the environments they share with many other living things—including us.
TOPICS
LARGEST AND SMALLEST PRIMATES
Who are the largest and the smallest apes, monkeys, and prosimians? Why are some giants and others as small as a mouse? What is the ecological niche that they support?
LARGEST AND SMALLEST MONKEYS
Who are the largest and smallest monkeys? This is an opportunity to understand that all monkeys are primates, but not all primates are monkeys. Monkeys are very diverse. It’s up to you to learn where they live and how they live in their ecosystems, and then to develop your theory or theories about why their physical adaptations make them successful there.
MOST UNUSUAL NOSES
Among monkey genera (plural of “genus”), there are some pretty wacky-looking noses. Why? What’s their purpose? How does nose size set certain monkeys up for success? Who has the largest, the smallest, and the most unusual noses? How do those noses make them successful in their specific ecosystems?
WET NOSES OR DRY NOSES?
Speaking of noses, here’s something you’ve probably never thought about: some primates have dry noses (like us, for example) and some have wet noses (like dogs and cats have). That’s pretty interesting! Why would that be? And who has what kind of nose?
LET’S GIVE ‘EM A HAND!
Most primates have hands that resemble our own. What makes primates’ hands unique? Opposable thumbs? They may be a key to our success, but not all primates have them. In fact, some primates have barely a thumb at all. In this lesson, you’ll learn about the many hand adaptations that make primates successful for their lifestyles and their ecosystems. That deserves a round of applause.
LARGEST AND SMALLEST PRIMATES
PRIMATES’ DIETS
Food availability is the cornerstone of survival and success. It is the fuel that keeps us alive and well. Just as primates are extremely diverse in appearance, their diets are very diverse as well. Some are herbivores. Within that category, some are folivores or frugivores. Some are insectivores—they eat mostly bugs. There are many categories. Do primate species always fit into one category? Or might they cross over into two or more? What happens when some foods are no longer available, like when seasons change? Who eats what, where, why, and when?
TIME TO WAKE UP!
Biological clocks are also a key to the survival of any species. The times during which primates are awake and active during any 24-hour period also tell you about when they refresh and restore themselves with sleep. Some primates are awake and active during the day. Some at night. And some at hours in between. They all take lots of naps (some more than others). Why? How do available resources affect when they are active and when they sleep? How does awake time benefit all species that live in their environment? How does it protect them from predators? How does it ensure food resources for everyone in their ecosystems? Good questions! Find out how important active times of day are to survival and success.
DO THE LOCOMOTION
Primates travel in a wide variety of ways. They walk on four legs or on two legs, they run, they leap horizontally or vertically (depending on the species), they swing through the trees, they climb, and some use their tails as a fifth limb. How they travel is a function of how they are built. How they are built is a function of how they can most successfully get from place to place within their habitats. Learn about how they move, whether to travel, forage, escape predators, keep pace with their troops, or play. You may wish that you could get around as quickly and efficiently as they can.
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK… SOCIAL GROOMING
Most primates engage in social grooming. It is a behavior called “allogrooming.” It’s an important social activity that serves many important social purposes. It’s literally a case of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” It’s an exchange of favors that provides many functions. Learn what they are.
NATURE’S PHARMACY… SELF-ANOINTING
Primates use natural remedies to self-medicate, treat wounds, ease digestive discomfort, relieve the itch of mosquito and other insect bites, or to prevent insect bites, to name a few. Finding and using these remedies are skills that are taught and handed down from generation to generation. Teaching and learning behaviors are one of the hallmarks of social systems. Discover the clever methods that they use for illness prevention and remedies.
TIME TO WAKE UP!
For questions or comments, e-mail us at info@neprimateconservancy.org.